Recommendations on strengthening identification and rehabilitation of girls and boys victims of trafficking in the Baltic Sea Region Recommendations on strengthening identification and rehabilitation of girls and boys victims of trafficking in the Baltic Sea Region Dr. Maia Rusakova director of Regional NGO “Stellit”

1. To develop work with ethnic minorities “There were people around who knew about my situation but they were afraid to help me” (victim of trafficking in Kazakhstan, 2013)

2. To strengthen the boarder control in cases when children cross the boarder with their parents/ relatives and all the documents are fine “ There is another method widely used by traffickers and recruiters: children leave the country of origin legally with their parents, all papers OK, traffickers even pay for the issuance of an official travel passport, but when they get to the country of destination, everything is done to separate mothers and kids” (expert from Moldova, Regional NGO Stellit and Terre des Hommes study, 2010).

3. To pay more attention to motivation and support of stakeholders Identification of victims depends on the will, knowledge, skills and attitudes of stakeholders “The girl is 15 years old. Sometimes she spends a night out of a child house and some man come by car to take her away and to bring her back. She earns more then myself and she is happy about that. Why should I help her” (tutor of a child house in a North-Western Russia)

4. To train the staff of social care institutions on how to identify child victims and provide them with a comprehensive assistance “ I feel that I have a trust relations with a boy and that he will soon tell me that he was involved into prostitution and I avoid meeting him because I don’t know what to do afterwards” (social pedagogue of a child house in North-Western Russia)

5. To ensure that the staff of the social care organization in the country/region of origin has the same level of qualification as the staff in the destination country/region “ We have had many cases when children were accompanied by the staff of our shelter to the shelter in the region of their origin and after that children came back to our shelter faster than the staff who has accompanied them because they didn’t want to stay in the shelter in the place of their origin, they liked our shelter ” (representative of one of the shelters in St. Petersburg)

Thanks a lot for your attention! Regional NGO Stellit Russia, St. Petersburg, Mira st., 3, of. 507-B Tel. +7 (812)